Proteome profiling of bovine follicular fluid-specific proteins and their effect on in vitro embryo development

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of bovine follicular fluid proteins (bFF) and their differently charged groups as maturation media supplements for in vitro embryo development. bFF was obtained by aspiration from large healthy follicles (4–10 mm in diameter) and was precipitated by 30–50% (NH4)2SO4. The precipitated protein was fractionated into basic and acidic fractions by ion-exchanger columns. In experiment 1, the oocytes were matured in TCM-199 with 1) FBS+hormones (control) and 2) 10% bFF. The oocyte maturation rate, the development to the blastocyst stage rate and blastocyst cell number were not significantly different between the groups. However, the INFα and IGF-2r expression levels in the 10% bFF were higher than in the control (P